Woman's bare hands stop gator from attacking her dog

"I hear the most God-awful, piercing scream that I have ever heard in my life," Lori Beiswenger told WFTS in Florida.

A Florida woman turned and saw this 7-and-a-half-foot alligator -- her dog, Hope, in its jaws.

Lori Beiswenger told Newsy's partners at WFTS the gator trapped the dog in the golf course pond just outside her house. Without a second thought, she ran into neck-deep water and pulled on the gator's tail.

"I just kept screaming, 'Somebody help!'" Beiswenger told WFTS.

See more pictures from the scene:

13PHOTOS

Woman fends off gator

See Gallery

Woman's bare hands stop gator from attacking her dog

Photo courtesy: KDAF

Photo courtesy: KDAF

Photo courtesy: KDAF

Photo courtesy: KDAF

Photo courtesy: KDAF

Photo courtesy: KDAF

Photo courtesy: KDAF

Photo courtesy: KDAF

Photo courtesy: KDAF

Photo courtesy: KDAF

Photo courtesy: KDAF

Photo courtesy: KDAF

Up Next

See Gallery

Discover More Like This

HIDE CAPTION

SHOW CAPTION

of

SEE ALL

BACK TO SLIDE

The alligator let go of Hope but then turned toward Beiswenger. She ran out of the water, but Hope was still struggling. That's when golf course volunteer Jodie Daniels jumped in.

"I thought it [Hope] was dead because all I could see was the whites of its eyes," Daniels told WFTS.

He tried to pull Hope out with a shovel, but the alligator had her in its mouth once again. So Daniels whacked the gator with the shovel.

Hope had a severed artery and needed emergency care.

So Beiswenger rushed her away in a golf cart, using a tablecloth as a tourniquet until they reached a nearby emergency vet.